Steve Berry is Jean Valjean and Maxwell Schaeffer is Javert in 'Les Miserables,' which opens Friday at the Des Moines Community Playhouse. / Steve Gibbons/Special to the Register

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Rachel Forney is Young Cosette in 'Les Miserables.' / Steve Gibbons/Special to the Register

‘Les Miserables’

WHEN: Opens Friday. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through April 13. Due to demand, an extra performance has already been added for 1 p.m. March 29. WHERE: Des Moines Community Playhouse, 831 42nd St. TICKETS: $23-$42, with discounts for seniors and students. $23 rush tickets will be sold, as available, two hours before each performance. INFO:www.dmplayhouse.com

Revolution is in the air in 'Les Miserables.' Clockwise from lower left: Dani Boal as Eponine, Jack Parisee as Feuily, Peter Erickson as Gavroche, Ken-Matt Martin as Grantaire, and Michael Howland as Enjolras. / Steve Gibbons/Special to the Register

When the performance rights for “Les Miserables” went up for grabs in late 2012, it’s a wonder revelers didn’t take to the streets. Local actors had waited almost 27 years to get their hands on the script.

Had there been a barricade, they would have stormed it long ago.

But the rights were finally released from on high — specifically, the licensing organization Music Theatre International — and community theaters across the country lined up for the script and score like peasants in a bread line.

All the huddled thespian masses wanted a piece of the “Miz” magic, including the Newton Community Theatre, which opened a run last week, and Des Moines Community Playhouse, which opens its own version this weekend.

Playhouse executive director John Viars wanted to stage the show ever since he saw it, many times, during its early years on Broadway.

“It sucked me in every time, and I thought, wow, we could do that someday,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be 27 years older when we did.”

During that time, “Les Miserables” has racked up enough trophies to fill a wing of the Louvre, including eight Tony Awards for the original Broadway production and eight Academy Award nominations for the 2012 movie.

The song “I Dreamed a Dream” made Susan Boyle a viral celebrity and earned Anne Hathaway an Oscar. And it just keeps marching on. The national touring production that stormed the Des Moines Civic Center two years ago opens on Broadway this Sunday.

Everything about “Les Miserables” is big, from the historic sweep of Victor Hugo’s original novel to the size of the onstage cast to the vocal range they have to sing. The Playhouse held auditions way back in October — months earlier than usual — and got a head start on rehearsals in December.

“It’s more difficult than any other musical I’ve done,” said Viars, who joined the Playhouse in 1982.

The cast of 49 covers 130-some roles, which adds up to a lot of work for the costumers, props coordinators and stage managers.

It took a week just to sort out the microphones.

“It’s just a whole different feel with ‘Les Miz,’ ” said music director Brenton Brown, who leads the 11-piece orchestra. “There are three hours of constant music, without any (spoken) dialogue. It’s basically an opera.”

He added that the cast is a virtual “who’s who” of local stars, led by Steve Berry as the hero, Jean Valjean; and Maxwell Schaeffer as his ruthless rival, the officer Javert. Robin Heldt Spahr plays the doomed Fantine; Katy Merriman is her daughter, Cosette; and Douglas Cochrane and Gina Gedler have some fun as the greedy innkeepers.

A Playhouse fan recalled some of the actors’ previous roles and tried to sort out the new show on Facebook: “Captain Hook is trying to capture Billy Flynn, Evelyn Nesbit dies and leaves Elle Woods behind, the Tin Man runs some version of the Birdcage, and Peter Pan is some sort of prostitute. Should be interesting ...”

But even if the faces and story are familiar, the new production offers its own spin on the classic. Aside from a few elements Viars said audiences would feel cheated if they didn’t see — a battle scene with piles of bodies, a dramatic Fantine — the Playhouse’s 400-seat theater can create a more intimate, immediate experience than audiences may have seen at the Civic Center or a movie theater.

“Audiences will be even more energized seeing it this way,” Brown said. “It’s going to be almost more powerful in a way.”